


Heart in a Jar

by mofumanju



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-14
Updated: 2017-02-14
Packaged: 2018-09-24 05:33:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9705488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mofumanju/pseuds/mofumanju
Summary: “Oh? You really forgot about Valentine’s day?” and he smiles, as he stretches over him to get his glasses and put them on, his face turning into a serious expression. “How incorrigible.”





	

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know.   
> Happy Valentine's day!♥

He usually relaxes in that place, the tingling of the teacups against their plates playing a sweet melody that reaches and warms his heart - but today it’s different, and even if he can’t really stop smiling, Eichi is finding a bit too hard to put his heart at ease. Which is silly, of course, because why in the world should he be so nervous, hands playing with a teaspoon as his eyes keeps moving between his tea and the doorway of the bakery he is sitting in? This surely isn’t the first time he meets Keito out of the school, and surely isn’t the first time he meets him after-

“Ohi, you’re spacing out. Are you okay?”

He jumps on his seat, his heart beating a bit too fast, now that his eyes meets Keito’s, his nose red as a strawberry and his glasses fogged because of the sudden change of temperature - it stopped snowing hours ago, and still streets and trees are white and shining under those shy sunrays that dare to peep out from behind the clouds.    
It almost looks like they are in some sort of fairytale.    


“I am, I was just bored, and ended up with losing myself in my thoughts. Please sit, you must be freezing.”   


Keito takes off his scarf, letting it drop on the backseat of the chair he sits on soon after - he’s still keeping is coat on, and for a moment Eichi is curious to touch his skin, just to understand if the red on his cheeks has the same source of the one colouring his face, or if it’s just his body overworking to bring Keito’s temperature to an acceptable level.    
He surrenders before even trying.   


He decides to divert his attention for a moment, raising a hand to call the waiter and order another cup of tea for himself, and one for Keito, that gives him the hint of a smile to thank him.    


“Are you sure you’re not running a fever or something? Your face is red.”   


“Stop nagging me, I’m fine. You just popped up so suddenly that I got scared. You should apologise, you know? My heart almost stopped.”

“I won’t apologise for something like that, please. I walked up until this place just to meet you - speaking of which, what did you need me for?”   


“... so mean. You know what, you can go home, you monster. Did you forget your heart inside your bed this morning, Hasumi Keito?”

He crosses his arms on his chest and looks away, lips curved in a pout that he doesn’t have any intention to get off his face anytime soon, unless Keito doesn’t perform some kind of magic trick - which he won’t, by the way, so it’s all useless. 

… or oh, maybe he’s wrong, after all. There’s a muffled sound reaching his ears, a laugh that he is not really used to hear, Keito being more used to lectures and scoldings than to something like that. That’s why he sneaks a peek, and his pout melts away the moment his eyes brush against Keito’s lips, so beautifully bent in a smile that his stomach twists for a moment - thank God.

“What’s so funny about it?”

“I don’t know. You’re cute.”

And oh, that’s such hit below the belt. 

“You are not getting away with it so easily, Keito. You have to pay for this. To think that I even brought you a present…”

“A present? What for?”

“... Keito.”

“What?”

“It’s the fourteenth.”

“So what-” and oh, something seems to activate into his slow, hopeless brain, because he starts to look around and maybe, just maybe, but Eichi wouldn’t be sure, Keito notices the hearts hanging from the ceiling and, most of all, all those sweet couples looking each others in the eyes like that was the first time sharing their love to the rest of the world. “Oh.”

“Oh? You really forgot about Valentine’s day?” and he smiles, as he stretches over him to get his glasses and put them on, his face turning into a serious expression. “How incorrigible.”

“You are not funny at all.”

“I didn’t mean to,” and he smiles, thankful to himself to manage the moment of crisis by mocking Keito for his absolute lack of sentimentalism - maybe he just left it all among the words of some lyrics he’s working on, who knows. He gives Keito back his glasses, sitting again just in time to see their cups of tea being placed on the table. Now, everything is in place, and he can start to relax again. “And I didn’t really expect you to remember, actually. That’s why I told you to come here this morning. To refresh your memory a bit.”

“How kind of you.”

It wasn’t fair at all, to be the only one being embarrassed in that room, so now looking at Keito’s red ears is so satisfying that he can feel his heart giggling with him. He leaves the tea just for the time to bend over the bag at his feet and put it on the middle of the table, his smile growing wider as Keito lays his eyes on it.

“What is it.”

“Your present.” Keito raises a brow, taking the bag - and for a moment Eichi thinks that pink and green is not that bad combo after all. He smiles, playing with his teaspoon as his eyes don’t leave Keito for even a second. “I might have got a bit sentimental, just a little warning.”

And it’s good, so good, to see real fear crossing Keito’s green eyes like a blow of wind that brushes against fields of grass and brings a fresh scent of Spring. Eichi pins his elbows against the table, resting his chin on his hands and waiting patiently, feeding himself with Keito’s uncertainty as he opens the bag and looks inside.

“... what is…”

Ah, he doesn’t know if he wants to look at that, honestly, so he’ll just focus on his tea, for now, on that soothing shade of orange that’s probably telling him to keep smiling, and nothing more. He feels the tingling of the glass jar he filled himself in the last few days with pieces of his heart, and he doesn’t dare to talk unless Keito opens it and starts to rummage inside it with his fingers. 

“Those are… notes I took in the last years while I was hospitalized. And by last years I mean since I met you.” He clears his throat a bit, pausing just to take a sip of tea in hope that it will help him. He looks at Keito’s fingers, drawing his silly old notes one by one, starting with the ones he wrote when he was still a child, with his trembling fingers because  _ what if I forget that I’ve got a new friend, tomorrow? What if I forget that Keito visited me?  _ “I collected them in a box that I held in my nightstand, the one you always asked about.  _ It’s a secret, don’t ask me _ , God, you were so annoying.” He feels his heart getting warmer, as the table starts to be slowly covered in paper of different shapes, different colours - some of those post-its belonged to Keito, before he decided to steal them from him that time they had a fight over how many cups of tea he could drink before he collapsed. “You gave me a hell of a life, you know? I was sick and tired and you just kept scolding me when I wanted to have a little fun. Well, things are still this way, aren’t they?”

Keito stay silent, as he unfolds all his messages, as he cruelly exposes his heart to the eyes of the rest of the world - that, well, it never counted for him to begin with. But Eichi doesn’t like silence, not when he feels his eyes stinging a bit, so he keeps blabbering,  and for a moment he wonders if any of his words make sense - for him, or for Keito, he doesn’t know.

“You took care of me for so long, Keito. And even if I love tormenting your poor, precious soul, I also want to be sure you know that I really appreciate what you did, and what you do. Even if I love working for the Student Council and you keep telling me to go basking in the sun, even if I love to indulge on tea and you keep forbidding me to drink more than three cups a day. If I was to die tomorrow, or anytime soon… I don’t want to die without letting you know how much I am-” and he has to stop because, honestly, this is so hard, when words are starting to pile on his throat and push to come out, breaking his voice. Keito is looking at him now, he can feel that soft, sweet tingling on his forehead, on his cheeks, but he doesn’t want to raise his eyes from those fingers holding his heart like it was something precious, something so fragile that it could break in a moment - just like a piece of paper.

_ Keito is mean but he’s my only friend, so I guess I should hold him dear.  _

_ Keito drew something for me. I hope he never stops drawing for me.  _

_ Keito is sick and can’t come to visit me, I feel alone, I want to play with him.  _

_ We planned my funeral together. I’m gonna get pyramids. Now I can’t wait to die. _

_ I almost died and Keito asked me not to go, so I came back. _

_ I painted all the roses of the manor in blue and Keito scolded me for hours. He got scolded for hours by his parents though, so I guess it’s a draw.  _

_ I hate Keito, I don’t want to see him anymore. _

_ When the doctor tells me to think of something good before to sleep, I always think about Keito. _

_ I guess he found himself some new friend. That’s good. He shouldn’t waste his life at the bedside of someone like me, anyway.  _

_ I miss him. _

And there’s too much about him inside that jar, things he would prefer to forget, things that make his heart dangerously clutch inside his chest. He closes his eyes for a moment, before he finds the strength to raise his head that bit he needs to make eye contact with Keito. 

He’s glad to meet watery eyes.

“... how much I’m grateful.”

Keito doesn’t speak a word, if not for a single sound leaving his throat in approval. Eichi chuckles softly, when he hears a sniffling that he pretends he doesn’t exist, and this time he just let his hand leave his chin to land on Keito’s cheek, his thumb just casually meeting love in the form of a bead of water.

“I love you, Keito,” he whispers, and he knows Keito won’t answer to that by voice, no - he holds that hand between his own, bringing it to his mouth, kissing his fingers one by one, so gentle, so in contrast with the demonic figure that used to haunt Eichi’s childhood. 

That’s more than he can wish for.


End file.
